Daily Archives: August 9, 2021

Broken rules from The Block Bible have resulted in tensions and early alliances on site, with this season shaping up to be a dramatic one already.

In Monday nights episode of The Block Fans v Faves, twins Luke and Josh and married couple Tanya and Vito teamed up to turn on country singer Kirsty and her husband Jesse labelling them rude after an awkward clash over a bed.

It comes after the twins had their own run-in with Kirsty and Jesse on Sunday night over using their tradies to paint, breaking the golden rule of the competition.

Meanwhile, TheBlock faves Ronnie and Georgia and Mitch and Mark have kept their distance from the rookie teams, musing that its very us and them.

Ouch.

RELATED: Block viewers fume over big rule break

Mondays clash kicked off after the couples chose their houses, with Tanya and Vito scoring the challenge house complete with three established bedrooms from the first task.

But while The Block rule book stipulates that whoever wins the challenge house is entitled to keep everything in it, Kirsty and Jesse tried to claim the items from their winning room, resulting in an uncomfortable stand-off.

Kirsty and I had a little bit of a moment, makeup artist Tanya told producers, revealing that a crew member had alerted her to the fact that Kirsty and Jesse had swooped in to retrieve the pieces.

RELATED: Dibber dobber drama starts early on The Block

On realising the couple had raided their house, Tanya confronted Kirsty and asked to at least leave the beds.

Were keeping the bed, were keeping all three beds. Were allowed to, Tanya had said, to which Kirsty, seemingly unaware of the rule, replied: What do you mean youre keeping our bed?, before adding: Hey, Im cheering I dont have to carry this f***ing bed over there.

You dont want the bedhead? Its cute as, Tanya then asked, to which Kirsty refused with a short Yeah, so you can have it then.

While only a minor clash that ended with a hug, Tanya was quick to fill in the rest of the cast with a slightly dramatised version of events.

Its fine, but I said take the bedhead its really cute, and Kirsty was like well if its so cute then you should keep it, Tanya recalled to producers.

Elsewhere, in a phone conservation, Tanya was heard saying: Our neighbours who we thought were our friends went into our room and started taking all their stuff.

I said Its a cute bedhead why dont you take it and (Kirsty) turns around and goes well if its so gorgeous and cute you can have it. So shes the mean girl.

Telling neighbours Luke and Josh about the drama, Tanya said: She came in and started taking their sh*t without even asking me.

Theyre rude, real rude, the twins responded, to which Tanya declared she was done with their friendship.

Im done too, Im done with them. They can f*** off, fumed Luke.

Im off Kirsty and Jesse, I want them off my site. I dont want to see them, they can stay on their site. But if theyre going to be rude, Im done with it, he added.

Things between the boys and Kirsty and Jesse werent off to a great start during Sundays premiere.

Luke and Josh werent impressed when country singer Kirsty pointed out theyd broken The Blocks number one rule while completing their first challenge in this years Hampton, Victoria cul-de-sac.

With the teams tasked with designing a bedroom in just two days and a budget of $5000 to win the advantage of having first choice of property, Kirsty was shocked to find the boys using their tradies to paint.

As Scott Cam pointed out during the episode, and many fans later on Twitter, rule number one in the Block Bible is that contestants must do their own painting.

Speaking with producers, the brothers made it clear they werent happy with Kirstys approach to reminding them.

Its not something that Luke and I would normally do, go and pull someone up if theyre doing the wrong thing, said Josh.

We dont do the dibber-dobber thing, Luke added.

Meanwhile, Kirsty told producers she just wanted to make things fair in the competition.

The Block continues tomorrow night from 7.30 on Channel 9

View post:

The Block fans turn on each other after broken bed rule - NEWS.com.au

Theodore Roosevelt, 1907

President Roosevelt was referring to immigrants who may hold some allegiance to their home countries. It applies to those of us who are native-born, too: a nation is not a nation unless it has principles upheld by its citizens, to each other.

Such principles need not cover every aspect of life. We have different likes, dislikes, backgrounds, habits, and beliefs. But at some level we must share an understanding that supports coexistence. Roosevelt laid a good foundation. After that, we need to live and let live.

Not long ago, the Golden Rule was a common understanding: treat others as you would like to be treated. Was that too simple? Does it only work where theres little or no diversity? Perhaps.

In an environment of diversity, coexistence can become difficult. Mutual respect and tolerance become necessary. It requires everyone to play along.

My father-in-law used to say it is impossible to be fair. At first, I disagreed with him but came to see it his way. No one has the same priorities and perspectives that I do or that you do. My intent to be fair with you could seem unfair to you if our priorities and perspectives are different.

In the middle of the 1800s, many Irish immigrants landed in Boston where they lived in poor conditions. Well-meaning people, appalled by the immigrants situation, insisted the government improve things. In 1868, Boston introduced housing reforms. The well-meaning people were proud to have improved immigrant lives. But did they? Surely, some of the tenement residents enjoyed the improvements. On the other hand, one of the top priorities for many Irish immigrants was to save enough money to send to Ireland so relatives could afford to join them. Tenement reform meant higher rent which meant less saving which meant longer waits for reuniting families. Priorities and perspectives. Live and let live.

Freedom means being unrestricted. Some think freedom means being able to do whatever they like. Living totally free would allow me to do anything I want with you. Depending on my nature, that could be unjust in the extreme. Coexistence requires that my freedom ends where yours begins. And vice-versa. Live and let live.

Have you heard of preferred pronouns? Independent of their sex, apparently regardless of anything but their feelings, individuals are expecting us to use he, she, they, xe, or ze when we speak of them. Some people are starting to wear pins with their preferred pronouns; they have email and social media signatures that include them. Is their preference for certain pronouns greater than my preference not to care about their preference? I dont think so. Live and let live.

There seem to be more and more demands from people, of others, that require a lack of respect for coexistence. Lets try harder.

Bruce Kaskubar, of Rochester, is a former chairman of the Olmsted County Republican Party. His opinions are his own.

Here is the original post:

Bruce Kaskubar: Live and let live - PostBulletin.com

We all know the uneasy feeling you get when your groceries are speeding through the checkout at the shop.

The panic of throwing everything into your trolley but making sure youre not squashing your bread or cracking all your eggs.

You have to have all this done before your total comes up and you need to find your purse or wallet hidden in the trolley.

Well, all your troubles may be solved as an Aldi worker has revealed the golden rule of shopping at the store.

Aldi is one of the quickest supermarkets around, 40 per cent faster than other stores, which helps to keep their cost down for customers.

A viral TikTok shared that shoppers should space their items apart at the checkout to slow the person at the till down.

They suggested that if you are struggling to keep up, this may be the perfect way to calm things down.

However, many shoppers tested this out and came to the conclusion that this, in reality, doesnt work.

Others disagreed with the claim that Aldi employees were too fast explaining that the efficiency of shopping there is the benefit.

One person wrote: They have to scan fast. The faster they scan, the better - I got told this in a group interview for Aldi."

A second person said: When will people learn you pack on the shelf at the window, not the till!"

The Mirror reports that one Aldi worker took to the comments to reveal a simple trick for those that needed it.

They said: Can I clarify I work in Aldi and I'm proving that people's way of slowing us down doesn't work."

Another commentator took the opportunity to ask an important question writing: Is it true if the customer asked you to slow own that you have to?"

The Aldi employee responded: "Well you would out of courtesy, you have to adjust to every customer's needs."

So next time youre panicking at the till with too many items being scanned through and not enough hands, try asking the person at the checkout counter to slow down a little.

Read the original post:

Aldi workers reveals the golden rule that shoppers should know - RSVP Live

It's somewhat of a golden rule to not mess with a good thing. But what about two?

When it comes to music,mashup maestro Calb is a pro at rearranging cult-classic albums into interdisciplinary works of art. His latest project, Thriller Access Memories, is an electrifying synthesis Daft Punk's Random Access Memoriesand Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Out August 3rd,Thriller Access Memoriesweaves together the dazzling instrumentals of RAM with Jackson's vocals. Its resulting tracks, with names like"Instant Billie Jean" and "Fragments of Beat It," are scintillating blends of disco and pop, built from beats and lyrics you probably already know by heart.The bright and dreamy closer, "I Feel Human Nature," is particularly successful, as is "The Lady of Love."

Thriller Access Memories comes paired with its own 33 minute-long visualizer, which matches music video and performance footage from Daft Punk and Jackson to each of their songs. Its opening scene places two robotic lookalikes inside a retro spaceshipoutfitted with a record player, no less.

"After announcing their retirement, Daft Punk retreat to their interdimensional ship to travel through space, time, and reality," Calb described in the video's caption. "In an alternate universe they find a version of their last record that appears to have been made with Michael Jackson. Here is that album, presented to the public for the first time."

Other works by Calb includeCurrents, an amalgamation of Frank Ocean's Blondeand Tame Impala's Currents, and OVERGROWN.A$AP, which pulls together works by James Blake and A$AP Rocky.

Read the original here:

Someone Released a Full Album of Daft Punk and Michael Jackson Mashups - EDM.com

For most of the world, it has been considered the golden rule. When it comes to calculating a countrys standing on the official Olympics medal table, the number of golds gained rather than the actual amount of medals acquired dictates the ranking.

Such convention, however, is not one that the US follows. Instead, the US adds all gold, silver and bronzes won to create an alternative medal count table. Often, this makes no difference to who comes top. But this year, just as the US and China are locked in a rancorous tussle for global supremacy, it makes all the difference.

The US lags in second place behind China in the tally of golds, but its own unorthodox methodology sees the US beat China to the top spot. In fact, the US is way out on its own, with 108 medals secured, followed by China, whose haul of 87 includes two more golds than the US a minor detail and in third place, the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) with 69 medals.

The biggest winner under the US system is Ukraine. With just one gold from its 18 medals, the country soars from its current 43rd position to 16th.

Great Britain benefits more modestly, jumping above Japan to fourth but still behind the Russian squad.

This article was amended on 8 August 2021. An error during editing meant that an earlier version said the ROC had a tally of 69 golds; in fact, as the table showed, they had 69 medals (of which 20 were gold) at the time the article was published on 7 August.

See original here:

US finds its own way to top the medal table at Tokyo Olympics - The Guardian

Ive never liked Fridays. Chalk it up to superstition, but theres something about a Friday that gives me the creeps. It makes me think twice about scheduling anything important on a Friday. Some of it goes back to my reporting days, because sources have a way of tossing bombshells into the inbox just before the weekend.

Releasing news on a late Friday afternoon to avoid, or at least deflect, coverage is an unsavory but common move. Theres an entire episode of Aaron Sorkins The West Wing about it called Take Out the Trash Day. The goal is to bury the story because the Saturday audience for news is smaller than on other days. In Kansas, at 6:10 p.m. on Friday, July 30, we had a classic example of a news dump, when the schedule for the town hall meetings for the Republican-led redistricting process was announced.

And what a dump it was.

During the last redistricting, in 2011, it took four months to hold 14 town hall meetings to gather input from voters across the state. This year, those town halls will be compressed into a single week, beginning at 9 a.m. Monday in Manhattan. All of them will be held on weekdays, and only four will take place after business hours. In addition, each town hall is slated for only 75 minutes.

We already know the Kansas population grew about 3% in the past 10 years and will keep its four congressional seats. What we don't know yet is neighborhood-by-neighborhood detail on race, Hispanic origin, age, and housing levels. The Census Bureau has scheduled a news conference for 1 p.m. Thursday to provide analysis of the first local level results on redistricting data. That's the kind of information you need to redraw districts fairly or to arm yourself with the facts in advance of a town hall on redistricting. By the time of the Census Bureau release, however, the Kansas listening sessions will be nearly over.

But the goals of the GOP-controlled effort have already been announced, and the objective is retaining and increasing political power, not fairness or seeking public input. As in too many legislatures that are controlled by one party, and have no fear of a governor's veto, the politicians will be picking their voters.

Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican and the former Senate president, said the part you're not supposed to say out loud at a September 2020 meeting of the Pachyderm Club that redistricting would be an opportunity to unseat U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids by gerrymandering. A video of Wagle making the comment was leaked by a voting rights activist.

Davids, the lone Democrat in the Kansas congressional delegation, represents the 3rd District, which encompasses all of Wyandotte and Johnson counties, which is the heart of Kansas City, Kansas. After Wagle's elephantine musings were made public, Gov. Laura Kelly called for a nonpartisan redistricting commission.

After the Aug. 30 news dump, the Democratic minority on the redistricting committee cried foul, and said the town hall schedule did not give ample time for input. The Republican leaders accused the Democrats of "politicizing" the process and said the nonpartisan legislative research staff had announced the schedule. Well, yes, but the staff takes direction on scheduling from the committee chairs.

This is the point in a typical commentary where it would be normal to give the "we said, they said" account, to share the colorful quotes and the bon mots. I'm not going to do that here, however, because often the importance of a thing can be lost in the fog of immediate partisan rhetoric. It's also the kind of "dumb objectivity" that author Susan Jacoby has warned against, which assumes that each side is equally valid.

Instead, I'm going to pose a question.

How does this town hall schedule serve democracy?

Journalists devote their careers to informing audiences, and many of us do so in the belief backed up by data that we are strengthening democracy. Yet, under deadline pressure and the responsibility to present accurate information, we often don't have the time to ask deeper questions. This is not to throw shade on any of the terrific reporting that was done in the wake of the town hall news dump, because many outlets did yeoman's work of covering it. But as a columnist, I have more time and distance.

So, does the town hall schedule serve democracy?

First, some background.

Redistricting takes place every 10 years, according to the Kansas Constitution and federal law, and states must reapportion electoral districts using population data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In Kansas, the Legislature handles redistricting, by committees of both chambers. This year, of 26 redistricting committee members, only seven are Democrats. The new districts are made by passing laws which, like other pieces of legislation, are subject to gubernatorial veto. But the Republicans have a supermajority in both chambers, enough to override any veto by Kelly, a Democrat.

During the last redistricting, in the 2010 cycle, the Legislature failed to agree on a plan to redraw congressional and state districts, largely because of "third party" politics that pitted moderate Republicans against the more conservative faction. A federal court drew the boundaries in 2012. That option, however, will not be available in this cycle. A 2019 U.S. Supreme Court decision declared that partisan politics, even in cases claiming extreme gerrymandering, are beyond the reach of federal courts. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the conservative majority, said redistricting results that are highly partisan may "reasonably seem unjust," but it's not the court's responsibility to find a solution.

In 2012, because of the aforementioned internecine Republican squabbles, Kansas was the last state to have a redistricting plan. Now that the moderate faction has largely been driven from the Statehouse by hyper-partisan politics, things may go more quickly. The accelerated town hall schedule is not an encouraging sign, at least not if you're concerned about fairness.

The result will likely be that the majority party will redraw the lines to suit itself, and not voters. Redistricting, in fact, is just one of the tools available to disenfranchise voters, by gerrymandering, stacking, cracking, and packing.

Changes in population do result, over time, in a changing congressional map. Kansas, for example, once had eight congressional districts. I can remember, for example, the tail end of the old 5th District, which included Wichita and southeast Kansas, which lasted from 1885 to 1993. But gerrymandering has long been recognized as an unfair way to manipulate the vote.

There are many forms of gerrymandering, each with a particular purpose, such as protecting an incumbent or unseating one. One way that Davids could lose her constituency, and her seat, is if the 3rd District boundary were drawn in an extreme wedge shape, with the point in Kansas City, Kansas, but the broad tail in the western part of the state. In that case, you might have urban Wyandotte County (65% for Biden in 2020) sharing the same district as rural Gove County (88% for Trump).

Today, gerrymandering and other forms of boundary manipulation are aided by computer models that will slice and dice a district to provide a desired result, without having to hand-draw boundaries. In 2019, the American Legislative Exchange Council (known for its cookie cutter legislation that proliferates through conservative-held statehouses across the country) hosted a seminar that taught state lawmakers how to skew districts for political gain and defend against legal challenges. Wagle, the former state Senate president who said Davids 3rd District would be up for grabs, is an ALEC board member.

Just as computer models can be used to draw unfair districts, so too can computer models create more just ones. It really is all up to the intention of those drawing the boundaries. To try your hand at drawing your political boundaries, you can use DistrictBuilder, an open source redistricting tool. And to make the process more fair, the Brennan Center for Justice offers a simple solution: adopt independent commissions.

The current town hall schedule, taking place in a compressed timeline, during hours when most voters can't attend and ahead of the needed Census data, and orchestrated by a partisan-led commission, does not serve democracy.

Lines on maps have long been used to discriminate. Think of redlining in past decades, which denied residents in minority neighborhoods the possibility of home loans. Ten years ago, the Republicans gave us "Project Redmap," a plan to flip congressional districts and legislatures across the country by redrawing districts. The plan was so secret that in some states lawmakers were required to sign secrecy agreements. But the result was successful enough in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and elsewhere to give the GOP a 33-seat majority in the U.S. House, despite collectively receiving 1.4 million fewer votes.

Today's gerrymandering is no less bigoted than the old sin of redlining was.

When the history of the period immediately following the presidency of Donald Trump is written and if honest histories are still allowed at that time there will be chapters on how democracy was not at risk during a single day, or by a single act, or by a single individual. Instead, some historian perhaps yet unborn will see how democracy was eroded by a steady trickle of laws, passed in statehouses across the country, over the course of weeks and months and years.

Democracy is served when districts are drawn with respect for fairness and the integrity of neighborhoods, when classes of voters are not targeted for suppression, and when those in power practice the golden rule of politics that is, remembering that they will not always be in power, at least not in a true democracy.

If democracy is to be more than just a footnote in some future dissertation, we must take our duties as citizens seriously. The last town hall meeting is scheduled for Lawrence at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 13. That's a fitting date for a cramped schedule dumped on a Friday to begin with.

Read more here:

Kansas redistricting should be fair. What's been dumped on us is not. - Kansas Reflector

So, what in particular should you watch out for? There are five typical scams that expats should watch out for.

Property scams

Property buying abroad used to have a distinctly Wild West feel to it, as British retirees and holiday homebuyers bought time-shares from friendly fellow Brits who approached them on a Costa del Sol prom. Dodgy developers sold apartments on land theyd already mortgaged, country homes were built without planning permission, or granted by corrupt officials.

Since the global financial crisis, authorities have cleaned up their act and property buyers wised up to the need to use an independent lawyer, (rather than the estate agents brother-in-law).

The result: property buying abroad should be as safe as in the UK so long as you always use a local, independent, specialist property lawyer and a reputable and experienced international payments specialist.

Visa scams

This is likely to be a growth area for criminals, as Brits get used to applying for visas to retire to EU countries.

The problem is that visas are not just complicated, but even bona fide visa specialists will find legitimate ways around the rules to get you there. In particular, many British people will be investigating the various investor visas and golden visas, where you buy a property of over 500,000 (250,000 in some countries) in exchange for gaining residency.

The simplest answer is to see your target countrys immigration authorities as a resource, not a gaoler. Most will have websites in English.

Investment scams

With interest rates so low that your savings are making very little, the promise of a return of 10% or more can be tempting. Investors who may have started with a buy-to-let apartment or two may be tempted by a car park investment, or maybe a bamboo plantation, stamps, fine wine, student pods

But is it real or a scam? In the UK, risky investments would be clearly designated under FCA rules as, for example, Unregulated Collective Investment Schemes. Living abroad, not under FCA rules, expats can be at risk.

The golden rule is: if it sounds too good to be true then be very wary (and especially wary if the salesman is driving a Ferrari).

Pensions scams

Is there anything worse than losing your life savings when youre beyond an age to make the losses back? The pension freedoms of 2015 allowed you to take 25% of your pension pot tax-free, but has led to many cases of fraud, with an average loss of 82,000, according to theFCA.

Often the first approach will be for a pension review. What could sound more innocuous? Before long, theyre tempting you with riches and returns from overseas schemes. They might be low tax and high reward.

However, soon theyll be getting you to transfer your funds to an offshore account and will be lost to a scammers crypto account.

Money transfer scams

While few expats will fall for advance-fee scams, commonly known as Nigerian Prince scams, asking you to accept millions into your account in return for a cut, there are plenty more sophisticated scams.

Fraudsters will pose as an overseas property buyers lawyer or notary and ask you to transfer the money to a bogus account so always double-check the bank details with your solicitor.

Reputable and FCA-authorised currency traders are required to follow strict procedures and keep minimum financial reserves.

Other safeguards will include using designated client accounts, so a clients money never even goes into the companys account during the trade. They will also have a strong compliance department, so that fraudsters cannot use the service for money laundering.

*Christopher Nye is Senior Content Editor of Smart Currency Exchange

Excerpt from:

Five finance scams that target expats...and how to avoid them - Property Investor Today

PEMBERVILLE This fall, Eastwood Elementary students can choose to receive religious instruction.

Students in grades K-4, with parental permission, can receive character and religious instruction during the school day.

LifeWise Academy will be held at Zion Lutheran Church in Luckey and students will be transported there once a week during their library period.

All transportation will be organized and provided by LifeWise.

Ohio Revised Code allows Released Time Religious Instruction programs, so the districts school board wasnt required to take any action on the academy, said Superintendent Brent Welker.

Eastwood Local Schools policy also states that students may be provided release time to attend a course in religious instruction conducted by a private entity off district property, provided that the following requirements are met:

The students parent or guardian gives consent in writing

The sponsoring entity maintains attendance records and makes them available to the district

The sponsoring entity provides and assumes liability

The academy also must keep students from missing any instructional time, Welker said.

The board makes no endorsement of any religious activity, nor does it interfere with the lawful exercise thereof, the policy states.

Obviously, this is with the parent consent, Welker said. I feel that the decision is 100% in the hands of the parents.

If they meet all those standards, the board cannot prevent students whose parents want them to attend from attending.

He said that LifeWise has done this in other districts.

Its really been pretty seamless, Welker said.

A search of LifeWise Academy in Ohio shows there are similar programs in the Pandora-Gilboa school district in Putnam County and Elida schools in Allen County.

Pemberville resident Eric Corns has been tapped as volunteer academy director.

Corns said that he was made aware of LifeWise from a past motivational speaker who visited Eastwood.

He said he was asked by community members to shepherd the process of bringing the academy to the district.

Corns said there has been recognition in the community that there is a need for it and he is confident it will open this fall.

Corns said while he grew up going to Sunday school, national statistics show only 25% of youngsters find themselves in that setting now.

They just dont have exposure to it like many did growing up, he said.

Roger Bostdorff, a former Eastwood school board member who is organizing the fundraising for the academy, agreed.

For whatever reason, theyre not getting the Christian education we used to get, he said about todays youngsters.

Our kids need to have a better understanding of the values the good Lord has us live by, Bostdorff said.

While the Eagle Way will teach students while in school, more is needed, he said.

Outside of Eastwood, these Christian values need to be reinforced and taught to make them better citizens, Bostdorff said about students.

The Eagle Way represents the core beliefs of the school district, which are: Do Whats Right, Do the Best You Can, and Treat Others the Way You Want to Be Treated. It has been used in the district for 14 years.

Bostdorff said the Golden Rule also has been forgotten.

It used to be when two people disagreed, they could agree to disagree, he said. Now, they stop talking to each other or hurt each other physically.

When we were growing up, we could disagree without hating the other person, Bostdorff said.

He said LifeWise Academy will teach the younger population the values in the Bible.

Classes will follow the Gospel Project, which teaches Genesis to Revelation in an age-appropriate way.

Classes are non-denomination, Corns said.

The LifeWise Academy website explains it is a Released Time Religious Instruction program which exists to provide Bible education to public school students.

Eastwood students in grades K-4 attend classes in art, music, physical education, technology and library. Those students who attend LifeWise classes will miss their library rotation.

LifeWise has been successful in moving the needle, with an average participation rate of 60% in the first year, Corns said.

For me, it was a no-brainer. How could I not be involved in this? he said.

Bostdorff said the academy has $100,000 committed toward its $150,000 goal to get the program started.

Each year after next, another $50,000 will be needed, he said.

It takes approximately $20 per student per year for the curriculum.

The objective is to make this free to the parents, Bostdorff said.

It makes the curriculum available to children during the school day, Corns said. Theres a need there and this has been demonstrated as a viable way to get character curriculum to students.

He hopes students learn what it means to be patient, responsible and grateful, and to give of themselves.

As an example, Corns said Genesis teaches God created the heavens and the Earth.

Everything we have and every thing we are is a gift from God, so the character takeaway is gratitude, he said. Were not interested in focusing on what divides the Christian community. Were focusing on what we agree on.

Character education is crucial, he said. Not only for how we get along with each other in civilized society but also for our spiritual being.

View original post here:

Eastwood will offer religious education: LifeWise starting in the fall - Sentinel-Tribune

The Biden administration is playing into a trap of their side's own-makingand smart Republicans would be wise to remember this moment as a precedent for a future vindication of the Constitution's separation of powers.

As panic set in over the expiration of the pandemic-related eviction moratorium, Democrats scrambled to protect a core constituency's expiring benefit. On June 29, the Supreme Court, in the 5-4 "shadow docket" decision of Alabama Association of Realtors, determined that the extension of the pandemic-related eviction moratorium would expire. Justice Brett Kavanaugh expressed that the Court would tolerate a unilateral extension of the moratorium by the executive branch this far but no further than the end of July, absent ordinary legislation addressing the matter. As if caught by surprise by the Supreme Court's ruling nearly five weeks ago, Democrats in Congress, particularly the House "Squad," began raising a ruckus over the past seven days to use whatever tools they have at their disposal to extend the moratorium.

But Congress, under short notice and with little institutional willingness to take up this matter, was a dead end. Concerned congressional Democrats then began pressing the Biden administration to search for any legal language, no matter how attenuated, to continue the moratorium. Despite frequent assurances that the CDC could not construe existing legislation to unilaterally incorporate a further extension of the eviction moratorium, the Biden administration earlier this week announced the grounds on which the eviction moratorium would continue. Even as the administration conceded it had no statutory ground to continue "new, targeted eviction moratoriums," it announced it would press on in defiance of the Court's June 29 ruling.

National Review's Andrew McCarthy ably explained the specious reasoning given by the Biden administration to continue the eviction moratorium. McCarthy also inveighed against the damage the Biden administration is doing to the separation of powers: "[I]n blatant violation of his solemn duty to execute the laws faithfully, Biden has usurped Congress's legislative authority and declared the power to legislate."

But what even an incisive thinker such as McCarthy misses is that the surest defense of the separation of powers is not tut-tutting about structural protections of liberty, even if those protections are valuable. Rather, the surest defense is what constitutional scholar Hadley Arkes calls the operationalizing in constitutional government of the Golden Rule. As Arkes has explained, "it puts the question of what the principle is behind one's position and whether he would be willing to honor the same principle when it cuts against his interests."

A Biden administration that flagrantly defies an on-point ruling of the Supreme Court opens itself to the precedential invocation of that same principle when a future Republican administration seeks to downplay a ruling of the Court by sustaining its own understanding of constitutionality, as per its branch's independent interpretive prerogative.

The shock that may come, particularly to conservative readers, is that in principle what the Biden administration did in defiance of the Court on the eviction moratorium is not unconstitutional. For example, Lincoln understood, as in Dred Scott, that a decision in a case is only strictly binding as it applies to the named litigants to a specific lawsuit. A broad principle applicable to the other branches need not be gleaned from any one decision of the Court.

Constitutionality, then, is better understood as an ongoing conversation between the branches, with constitutional determination much more fluid and distilled based on the actions and reactions of all the branches based on factors such as institutional competency and willingness to act. What many Americans sense but may not be able to articulate is that we are living in a flawed experiment in self-government, where judicial opinions have the force of upending the rules by which we govern ourselves. A Biden administration that has chosen to re-establish this understanding of constitutionalityarguably one much more in keeping with how the Founders envisioned the branches' notion of ambition counteracting ambitioncould perform a valuable long-term service toward restoring notions of republican self-rule.

That said, the Biden administration foolishly picked a partisan cause on which to mount this particular case. While in principle constitutional to push back on a decision of the Court, prudentially Democrats may rue this decision soon. Conservatives need not employ great powers of imagination to envision a world where a Republican president bucks the Court and realizes substantive priorities rendered moot by that eminent tribunal. Recall not too long ago, in New York v. Department of Commerce, when the Court held that the Trump administration had improper motives for including a question about citizenship on the U.S. census. Or even more significantly, when the Court in Bostock v. Clayton County read into the Civil Rights Act of 1964 an understanding of "sex" utterly detached from the original public meaning of the Act's drafters. Compared with the eviction moratorium decision that featured direct language with determinative timetables, these Trump-era decisions should have invited greater executive deliberation on prudential applicability.

Conservatives ought to have long memories and at least remain open to creative strategies for vindicating the logic underlying the separation of powers, lest they be subject to a one-way ratchet of power used only against their substantive priorities. Perhaps the Biden administration believes it can play dumb long enough for a political solution to the eviction moratorium to emerge. However, the administration has sprung a trap of its own making by viewing decisions of the Court as only final when it also views them as correct. Conservatives, take note and prepare for when a future Republican administration can use this moment as precedent to defend the principles of republican self-governmentas Lincoln would have urged.

Garrett Snedeker is the deputy director of the James Wilson Institute on Natural Rights and the American Founding and a J.D. student at the Antonin Scalia Law School.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.

Go here to read the rest:

The Biden Administration Is Playing Dumband Into a Trap | Opinion - Newsweek

Last week, I had an experience at a local business that was very unsettling. It got me thinking. How did our country become so divided?

Back in the olden days, before 1987, we had the FCCs Fairness Doctrine. According to Wikipedia, the policy instructed news media to present both sides of an issue to ensure viewers were exposed to a diversity of viewpoints. We trusted Walter Cronkite to deliver the facts. It wasnt news for profit, or political opinion, it was just news.

Back in the olden days, 1960s, there was heated political debate, but we werent isolated in our polarized camps. Mr. Noble, the Democrat down the street, argued politics with my Republican dad, but they were still friends. Our families went on vacations together. In school, church, Camp Fire Girls, etc, we were taught to respect each other and follow the Golden Rule.

Now political debate devolves into personal attacks. Self-righteous indignation battles it out with arrogant hearsay. Corporate mainstream news and other media bend the truth to influence their listeners and advance their political and financial agendas. We must be able to discern the truth. That is why education is essential. Critical thinking is essential. And learning from history is essential. We must not become gullible lemmings who fall prey to unscrupulous leaders or unfounded conspiracy theories and lies.

The other day, two employees in a local business lectured me for wearing a mask. They said COVID is just a bad flu and that most of the people who died from it here in Del Norte County were unhealthy or obese. They said Id been brainwashed. I do understand that COVID restrictions have hit some businesses hard, so I shut up and agreed; there is a lot of brainwashing going on.

They also quoted a CDC website that said thousands had died from the vaccine. I went home and did some research. There is a CDC reporting system called VAERS that reviews deaths that occur after vaccinations. I searched but could find no timeline, so I dont know if the reports are one day or one year after the vaccine. But there are thousands of reports from senior care facilities, from hospitals and from individuals, including false reports. The CDC reviews them all, and so far, three deaths are definitely linked to the J&J vaccine. The VAERS/CDC data is being misconstrued by dishonest media pundits and even elected representatives. They are using the COVID vaccine as a political football. They are dividing us. And divided we fall.

Back in the olden days, 1930s, my mother had polio when she was a child. She was beautiful like a movie star but had a limp and her right side was weak. The polio vaccine came out in 1955. Because we all had the vaccine, America has been polio free since 1979. Our families and children are not disfigured by polio.

It is a testament to our American education system and industry that our scientists were able to develop, test and distribute the life-saving COVID vaccines so quickly. Other countries are clamoring for our vaccines. But because of self-serving politicians and media propaganda many of our people are afraid to be vaccinated. Right now, in the middle of summer, there are dozens of people in Del Norte County who are sick with COVID. It is too early to tell if there is permanent damage to people who fall seriously ill. This is why education is so important. Our kids need to learn how to think critically, to discern the truth. They need to know history. We cannot allow ourselves, our families or our country to be manipulated by propaganda.

Continue reading here:

Letter: Why education is essential | Opinion - The Triplicate